Ruth Jones makes outspoken women funny without losing their warmth. We rate her in broad comedy and in drama, with a reservation: an engaging performance can only do so much when the writing lets it down.
Fi1m perspective
Ruth Jones can play a brash woman without making her seem incapable of kindness. Nessa Jenkins in Gavin & Stacey (2007–2024) is outspoken and loyal, and the affection matters as much as the broad comedy. After East Is East (1999) and Fat Friends (2000–2005), her breakthrough came with the series she co-wrote with James Corden. She went on to create and star in Stella (2012–2017), a comedy-drama set in the Welsh valleys. That history matters when we watch her dramatic work: she knows how to make a character worth staying with.
The move into dramatic television puts that ability to hold our attention to a different test. In Run Away (2026), Jones plays Elena Ravenscroft, a private investigator in a mystery whose developments become increasingly hard to believe. We were grateful for her performance because it kept us interested after the twists had begun to lose us. Alongside James Nesbitt, she keeps the series involving, but neither can make the weaker ensemble passages or clichéd dialogue disappear. Across eight episodes, that is a useful contribution, though we would recommend the series chiefly to thriller viewers willing to forgive the plotting.
The Other Bennet Sister (2026) is the more rewarding programme, though it again asks Jones to make repetitive writing work, this time as Mary’s mother. She and Tanya Reynolds, as Caroline Bingley, are capable of making the broad comedy watchable. Writers Sarah Quintrell and Maddie Dai keep returning to Mary’s marriageability, however, long after Ella Bruccoleri’s performance has made the embarrassment clear. We could do with fewer of those jokes and more for Jones to play, since making the family so unpleasant leaves little doubt about whom we should support. Try this one for a warm period drama, with the caveat that its sympathy for Mary can make the people around her rather too simple.
Biography
Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones (born 22 September 1966) is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer and producer. She trained at the University of Warwick, where she studied drama and theatre studies, and at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Jones co-wrote and co-starred in the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey (2007–2010, 2019, 2024) as Nessa Jenkins, for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance in 2025. She also co-wrote and starred in the Sky One comedy-drama Stella (2012–2017). Her other television work includes roles in Fat Friends (2000–2005), Little Britain (2003–2007), Nighty Night (2004–2005) and Saxondale (2006–2007). She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to entertainment.
In 2026 she appeared as Mrs Bennett in the BBC series The Other Bennet Sister and as Elena Ravenscroft in the Netflix series Run Away.
